ILOILO CITY—Supertyphoon “Yolanda” may have hit hard Panay Island’s tourism efforts, but tourism and local officials are regarding the industry as one of the key areas in recovery and rehabilitation.
Attracting more tourists to Capiz, Aklan, northern Antique, northern Iloilo and other typhoon-hit areas may help stimulate the economy and provide livelihood to survivors, tourism regional director Helen Catalbas said.
Yolanda, which packed winds of up to 300 kilometers per hour, swept large areas in the Visayas, including pristine islands and fishing grounds in northern Panay on Nov. 8, 2013. Boracay Island, the country’s premier tourist destination, had minimal damage but it suffered cancellations of tourist bookings.
Last year, tourist arrivals in Boracay reached 1,363,601, higher than the 1,206,252 in 2012 but short of the Department of Tourism (DOT) target of 1.5 million.
In separate interviews on Monday, Catalbas and Tim Ticar, officer in charge of the DOT office in Boracay, said travel bookings were canceled from Nov. 8 until the end of November due to the closure of airports in Caticlan and Kalibo, and in the cities of Roxas and Iloilo for several days.
Catalbas said the cancellations were due to the misimpression that Boracay was as severely affected as Tacloban City in Leyte, Samar, Capiz and other areas in Aklan and northern Iloilo.
The number of international flights to Kalibo reach seven per day during the peak season, with mostly Boracay-bound tourists as passengers.
Boracay also suffered from rotational power blackouts due to downed power lines and after the storm cut off many areas in Panay from the Visayas power grid. Resorts and hotels had to rely on generators to operate.
Telephone systems and Internet connections on the island were severely affected for weeks.
In other areas in Panay, tourist areas affected by the supertyphoon will be the focus of promotions after the completion of relief operations and rebuilding of damaged infrastructure, according to Catalbas.
Capiz province has taken the lead in turning a calamity into an opportunity for recovery and growth through its “Tindog Capiz” campaign.
The “volunteerism-tourism” campaign involves drawing more tourists who are also willing to do volunteer work thereby making their visit to the province more meaningful, according to provincial tourism officer Alphonsus Tesoro.
Aside from visiting the province’s popular destinations, the “voluntourist” will have opportunities to join tree-planting activities, coastal cleanups, the building of houses and schools, and livelihood training.
Among those targeted aside from domestic and foreign tourists are private companies conducting team-building and corporate social responsibility activities, sociocivic organizations, government agencies holding outreach programs and educational tours.
“Visit Capiz and help the province get back on its feet because we have not and will not surrender to this calamity,” Gov. Victor Tanco had said in an earlier interview.